The present invention relates in general to a cookie press, and more particularly to a hand held, battery operated automatic cookie press.
Battery-operated, hand held cookie presses, that is, devices that dispense cookie dough, are known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,052,593 issued to Grome et al. is directed to a battery-operated hand-held cookie press that includes a sliding piston positioned within a barrel and removably mounted to a threaded rod. The barrel and piston cooperate to prevent the piston from turning within the barrel during advancement. The device includes a unidirectional electric motor and a gear train wherein the last gear has teeth that engage the teeth of a drive nut. The drive nut features threads that engage the threaded rod and is confined thereon. Upon completion of dispensing the cookie dough, the threaded rod and drive nut are removed from the device and, after cleaning, are flipped over and reinserted into the housing.
Another prior art cookie press apparatus is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,114,782 issued to Doyel. The Doyel patent illustrates a hand-held battery-operated cookie press. The cookie press includes a barrel with flattened sides and a piston with corresponding flattened sides. The piston is connected to a drive screw that is turned by a gear wheel having an internal thread. The gear wheel is driven by a gear train and a unidirectional electric motor.
The drive screw of the Doyel ""782 patent is loaded through a central opening in the back of the device until the threads of the drive screw contact the internal threads of the gear wheel. Once the threads are in contact, the motor is activated to rotate the gear wheel. The user lightly pushes the end of the screw until the internal threads of the gear wheel and the drive screw engage. The cookie press extrudes cookie dough when the forward end of the screw is pushed against the piston. Upon completion of the dispensing or extrusion, the gear wheel travels off of the end of the drive screw. The drive screw is then removed from the barrel and the piston is removed from the drive screw. The drive screw is then reloaded via the opening on the back of the device as described above.
The battery-powered cookie press devices of the above two patents feature unidirectional motors. As a result, at the completion of a dispensing, the threaded rods or screws that drive their plungers or pistons must be removed and reinserted prior to the next dispensing. In each case the process is cumbersome and time consuming. Demand therefore exists for an automatic cookie press wherein the direction of travel of the threaded rod or screw may be reversed so that the cookie press may be xe2x80x9cresetxe2x80x9d for the next dispensing without manual removal and insertion of the drive rod or screw.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic cookie press where the direction of travel of the drive rod or screw may be reversed so that the device may be reset for dispensing without removal and/or reloading of the drive rod or screw.
The present invention is directed to an apparatus for dispensing a food substance, such as cookie dough. The apparatus includes a housing and a barrel removably connected to the housing. A rod is connected to a plunger. The plunger slides within the barrel. A drive mechanism located within the housing actuates the rod so that the plunger is advanced downward in the barrel. The drive mechanism includes a gear assembly and a nut housing having an inner passage. The nut housing is rotated in the housing via the gears of the gear assembly.
The nut housing houses a nut with outwardly protruding keys and a compression spring positioned on each side of the nut. The rod passes through the nut housing and engages the nut. The nut travels along the rod within the nut housing as the rod moves within the apparatus. The nut travels off of the threaded rod when the rod is fully extended and fully retracted. The springs in the nut housing urge the nut towards engagement with the threads of the rod in such situations so that the direction of travel of the rod may be reversed when the motor direction is reversed.